We Don't Need Another Brookline…

Even though we still have several weeks left in the PGA golf season, the “big” season effectively ended last weekend with the wrap-up event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs; The Tour Championship.

And what a finish it was! 

The favourites fumbled.  The middlers middled.  And some of the skin-of-the-teethers surged.

It was a topsy turvy Playoff season, and at the end the very deserving winner, Brandt Snedeker, not only hoisted the Tour Championship Trophy, but the FedEx Cup as well (not at the same time obviously…those buggers are huge!)

$1.4 million for the tournament win.  $10 million for the Playoff win. Sorry about your prospects for 2013 Brandt. The FedEx Cup curse begins right about….now.

Results – The Tour Championship

For those of you hungry for more golf action, the “Fall Finish” series of tournaments starts next week.  And that has drama galore, in its own way.

Instead of trying to capture the big bucks and glory in the FedEx Cup, the players you’ll see slogging it out on the fairways over the next month or so have a much different mission; SURVIVAL!

The guys who are hovering around the Top 125 mark…and all those below them will be doing their utmost to turn fate in their favour and retain their Tour Cards for the 2013 season.  One good week can do it…and the math on positioning after each event is almost as intriguing as watching Steve Sands scribbling barely legible FedEx Cup tallies on his dry erase board on Tour Championship weekend.

If you like your golf compelling, it’s pretty tough to beat the scenario; guys fighting for their existence.

Sure, the lustre of a $10 million payday is pretty cool to watch, but ALL the guys who make it to round 4 of the Playoffs end up with an excellent payday.  The guy who finished dead last, John Senden, earned a cool $175k just for showing up.

At this point, there’s no real pressure for these guys other than going for the glory.

But when the Fall Finish starts, it’s a whole different Darwinian ballgame.  Survival of the fittest…or, in many cases, the luckiest.

The Ryder Cup

This is, by far, my most favourite event in golf.  And I’m guessing many of you who visit this site feel the same way.

Yes, there are other tournaments I eagerly anticipate every season (The Masters, the Open Championship), but absolutely nothing is more compelling or dramatic for me than the bi-annual contest between the Euros and the Yanks.

Every 2 years the golf gods from America and Europe clash…and it truly is a clash of the titans.  I can’t think of any golfing event I anticipate more…or any other that has me on the edge of my seat as much.

Fittingly, the event is being played this year at legendary Medinah.  I say fittingly for one obvious reason; because Medinah rhymes with…

Angina!

(What did you think I was going to say?)

And you can bet your Easy Boy Chair-rooted ass that there will be hundreds of cases of “Extremely Tight Chest Syndrome” over the course of the nest 3 days as this event ploughs on to its conclusion.

Surprise heroes will emerge…other heroes will surprise by becoming failures…this tournament has it all.  And if you can’t get ramped up for the Ryder Cup, you need to see a cardiologist to check for some circulatory problems!

My only hope in this event (as always) is that the contest will be played with good sportsmanship first and foremost in the minds of the players and, more importantly, the crowds.

Yes, it’s fine to cheer your team enthusiastically…in fact it’s encouraged.  It’s one of the things that makes this event great.

But there is absolutely zero room in my mind for booing, taunting or cheering for someone else’s failure.

Yesterday on “Morning Drive” on the Golf Channel, the team conducted a survey asking viewers if it was acceptable to boo at a golf event.  Much to my dismay, at one point 30% of respondents said “Yes!”

Given that these viewers are supposed to be golf fans, I think the Golf Channel should get their IT department to track those votes and then revoke their subscriptions to the channel.  There’s NO room in golf for that kind of conduct.  None.

You might think I’m a stodgy, old-fashioned fart for saying it, but that is NOT what this gentleman’s game is all about…and anyone who thinks otherwise is part of the problem.

In other words, we don’t need another Brookline!

As always, thanks very much for reading…and for sending in your comments.  Have a great week and enjoy the spectacle that’s about to unfold.

Cheers,

Derek